Pete the dog doesn’t understand the concept of personal space. When he wants to sit, he just plops down wherever:
Badger isn’t the only victim. Bill and I frequently find ourselves squished under a fat gray ass.
For example, if you lie down on a sofa, sometimes Pete will sit right on your head. I’ve told him I’m not furniture many times, but he doesn’t care.
***
Has the mainstream press figured out that Musk has seized control of the U.S. Treasury yet?
Are the crusading journalists who decried the NSA phone metadata harvesting program in 2013 expressing alarm about an unelected South Africa-born fascist expropriating ALL of our personal and financial data from government servers now?
Gosh, I hope so.
Open thread!
Bruce K in ATH-GR
Feels like the opening days of the 1967 Greek junta. Of course, they were out of power and rotting in prison by 1974, and I think they had more popular support than Musk can claim.
Baud
The butt wants what it wants.
TBone
Today’s Heather Cox Richardson is epic. Skip it if you are feeling faint of heart. I am most decidedly NOT.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-1-2025
TBone
@Baud: uh oh, is it still dark in here? LOL!
WV Blonde
The autogolpe is well under way – the technogarchs see the government’s IT systems as the core of actual governance.
satby
As much as people scream about “the Democrats need to DO SOMETHING” it was refreshing to read a post putting the blame squarely where it belongs: “Where’s the Republican party?” Kevin Drum
MagdaInBlack
@WV Blonde: Well, that’s pretty much where my thinking is on this too.
Jackie
It’s Ground Hog Day.
Again.
prostratedragon
@Jackie: How’r those Segovia scales coming?
Gloria DryGarden
Happy Imbolc for those who celebrate.
Nelle
@satby: I have all republican “representation” in all forms of government. I have many Democratic neighbors. I know because I had 68 households in my neighborhood that I was responsible to urge to get out to vote. It is very silent around here. So yes, I will call my R reps and talk about their oaths to the Constitution, about this is how history will mark them. Who k nows when erosion will finally get a boulder to fall?
Suzanne
Pete is hilarious. LOL.
I am seeing headlines “above the fold” about Musk and the Treasury. The larger issue we have to contend with is that half of America hates the other half so much that there is nothing that they can’t justify away, as long as it hurts, offends, damages, or even just annoys the half they hate.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@satby: Exactly. The Republicans are in the majority in both houses. Their clowns, their circus.
prostratedragon
Josh Marshall 🧵:
Question in the comments:
Reply from Asha Rangappa:
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
100%
Libs lasted about 2 weeks after the election with that attitude, but it’s been eroding since.
satby
@Nelle: at some point if enough people let their Republican reps know they’ll be held accountable for complicity in the felon’s assault on the government I expect their own instinct for self preservation will kick in.
satby
@prostratedragon: and later in that same article Asha Rangappa also states that (paraphrasing because it’s not in front of me right now) that except for the court cases all those actions won’t stop anything, just slow things down. But it could put pressure on the Republicans.*
* Edit: we have to get enough people angry about what’s going on to pressure the Republicans, at least enough to join the Dems in opposition. But I think Musk is such a bonehead he’ll help a lot with that.
Jackie
@Suzanne: Speaking of headlines above the fold… I see this headline from the NYT:
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
OK, sure, the GOP deserves the blame, but in the meantime they’re taking over and gutting our government. Bad, BAD Republicans!
I agree that our agency is limited in these circumstances. But we should use what we’ve got, right? Should Dems just stand aside and blame Republicans as it all falls apart?
x
BlueGuitarist
@prostratedragon:
indivisible, working families party, and move on have a virtual call tonight at 8 pm eastern, “action call we choose to fight”
https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/752072/
Jeffro
@prostratedragon: Asha’s list is a good one.
Also needs:
Nelle
@satby: In 2000, when the Supremes gave the election to W, saying that it would do irreparable harm to him if they didn’t, but whadda about harm to Gore?? (am I remembering that right?), I kept waiting to hear a wild outcry. Crickets and such nice behavior on the part of the Dems. Are we all entertaining ourselves to death?
We are among those who left the US after W’s re-election. Boy, it’s a lovely world out there. And we can leave again – we have dual citizenship with the other country. We came back, we thought for a short time, partly to be nearer our kids, but mostly so my husband could fly instrument conditions, which he couldn’t do in NZ as a private pilot. We fully intended to return. But something about grandkids still has us here. We’ll share their fate. If it gets bad enough, my son (who has residency there -he went to high school there) may bring his family and come with.
Suzanne
@Jackie: And apparently there was an accident at O’Hare yesterday…. a plane hit an aircraft tug and critically injured the tug driver. Now, it should be known that each airline is responsible for coordination and control of their planes once they’re off the runways up to the gates, and it is unclear from the reporting I’ve seen exactly where this happened and thus how the failure occurred. But it’s not a confidence booster. I flew through O’Hare last week.
Suzanne
@lowtechcyclist:
Agree. We have limited power, and I’d like to see us use what we do have as effectively as possible. I still blame Republicans for being terrible.
catclub
@Jeffro:
Musk is rich not because of selling Tesla cars, but from selling/owning Tesla stock.
prostratedragon
@satby: Just several would be needed in the House. Senate’s a tougher job of course, but I’m beginning to think these smash and grabbers might have it in them to get’r done.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
I don’t believe in the online consensus approach. Maybe things will work out because Republicans will force the issue with their actions, and people will pat themselves on the back. But I’m going to keep the focus on Republicans, and leave it to others how they want to handle the Democrats.
prostratedragon
@prostratedragon: Adding that it’s depressing to see my suspicion of the fixation on the word “doge” bear fruit. He’s been planning, or maybe “planning,” this for years.
karensky
@Jackie: Yikes and thank you.
@Jackie:
Betty Cracker
@catclub: Don’t sales affect stock value?
MomSense
As it turns out we get our heating oil from Canada. Maine does a lot of trade with Canada so this is going to hit us hard. All of this so the Putin, his compromised Republican members of Congress, and the broligarchs can get Canadians to vote for their putain Poilievre.
Jackie
Article’s a couple of days old, but… I haven’t seen this in the avalanche of headlines announcing the end of democracy.
Betty Cracker
@lowtechcyclist: Some Dems are stepping up. Chris Murphy and Tim Walz, for example. Others, not so much.
Suzanne
@MomSense: If there’s any good news, apparently Poilievre’s popularity is falling, because he’s publicly kissed up to FFOTUS and now Canadians are mad at him.
BlueGuitarist
@Jackie:
Last night or this morning someone linked to this article, which includes some the Yarvin RAGE background to doggie.
https://www.thenerdreich.com/the-network-state-coup-is-happening-right-now/
satby
@Baud: it’s always safer to focus on the Democrats even when the power was handed to the Republicans in an election trifecta. The Republicans have never faced accountability for any of the damage they’ve done over the years except when they lose an election here or there. And in the next election often get that seat back. I’m keeping the focus on Republicans too; accountability is long overdue. Time to remind people what they vote for when they vote that party in.
satby
@Betty Cracker: yes, and Tesla’s sales are pitiful now. At least in the US.
lowtechcyclist
@Nelle:
You’re remembering correctly. In 2000, we still trusted the system, and our elected Dems were all about trusting and going along with the outcome. IIRC, a few House Dems did try to challenge the electoral outcome on January 6, 2001, but under the rules they apparently needed at least one Dem Senator to join in for their challenge to be heard. And none would do so.
Same thing this time. Nearly half the Dems voted to confirm Sean Duffy, who is a nutcase that has already put out an order that more transportation aid should go to areas with higher marriage and birth rates. A whole bunch of Dems voted to confirm Kristi Noem. There are some elected Dems who are on fire about this coup that’s underway, but they still seem to be the exceptions.
We should by all means continue to call our Congresspersons regularly. But I really don’t see how we move the needle much without taking to the streets.
Betty Cracker
Bill doesn’t pay much attention to the news (a habit I’ve envied for many years), but when he learned the price of Modelo is likely to go through the roof, all this tariff bullshit got real for him immediately.
Spanky
@Jackie: Democracy dies in silence.
BlueGuitarist
@satby:
thanks for your comments about this!
MomSense
@Suzanne:
I hope so but they could also be establishing the pretext to fuck with their election like they did ours. And yes I do think they fucked with it and getting Democrats to vouch for our elections is a neat trick considering we have known for decades that if the race is within 3 points there are ways to flip it.
Former Republican operative Cheri Jacobus has discussed this many times.
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin’, y’all.
Have you called your US Senators and US Reps? Written them an email?
Light their asses up!
Betty Cracker
@Jackie: “…deploying a suite of new AI software” — oh sweet jeebus, we really are doomed!
trnc
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
It’s Pennywise clones all the way down.
Spanky
@Betty Cracker: Tariffs are going to take a back seat if they start dicking with Social Security, Medicare, or especially, the Full Faith and Credit of the US.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
I’m not sure what you even mean by that. AFAIAC, here’s where we are:
1. The Republicans are the Bad Guys. Yes, we ought to be loud and unequivocal about that.
But that immediately raises the question:
2. What are we going to do about it?
It’s #2 that’s what’s under discussion in a forum like this, where we all already agree on point #1. It’s not like there’s a whole lot to be said about #1, other than “here’s how they’re using their agency against us today.”
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Have whatever conversation about #2 you want to have. If I don’t want the participate, I won’t.
ETA
It may not be useful in this almost top 10000 blog to talk about that, but it’s critically important in general. Unfortunately, people on all kinds of social media think they’re talking on an insignificant blog.
Spanky
@Betty Cracker: Btw, according to German tradition, Happy Badger Day!
frosty
@Nukular Biskits: I’ve got a R backbencher in the House and a new multimillionaire in the Senate. I intend to call today using this from a commenter yesterday (slightly rewritten):
You and the other Republicans in Congress could end this unconstitutional takeover in a day. If a majority or even substantial.minority of US Senators and House members came out and said a South African billionaire cannot run the United States that would stop this madness. Every single one if you is complicit. Every single one of you is letting Elon Musk do this to federal employees and the US public. Your cowardice and lack of patriotism is allowing this to continue.
Betty Cracker
@lowtechcyclist: I don’t know if you’re a TPM subscriber, but Josh Marshall has been pretty good on this issue, reviewing what opposition leaders can and cannot do.
@Spanky: I am unfamiliar with that tradition but like the sound of it!
Nukular Biskits
In harassing my US Senators, I came across my junior senator, Cindy “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row”” Hyde-Smith, praising this:
Pentagon scrubs Biden-era abortion travel policy
Fuckers.
RevRick
@Jackie:
@Gloria DryGarden:
For us Christians, it’s Candlemas, the day when the candles for use in the church or home in the upcoming year were blessed. The day, forty after Christmas, coincides with the time when Mary and Joseph went to the Temple for her after birth ritual of purification, and they presented Jesus in the Temple. Since Christians believe Jesus is the Light of the World, Candlemas reminds us that we are to be bearers of that Light.
jonas
@catclub: Correct, but slowing/declining sales of Tesla aren’t going to help the stock in the long run, which is already wildly overvalued by an order of magnitude. People are betting of course that Musk’s cronyism will somehow rebound to Tesla’s benefit or something, but at this point, it doesn’t seem as though he really gives a shit about Tesla. It’s stock could crater 90% and he’d still be richer than God.
Jackie
@BlueGuitarist: Thanks for the link. :)
The MSM bellyached for four years about how quietly and efficiently Biden’s Administration was working for us and democracy… and now suddenly the cats got their tongues.
We’re going to have to depend on independent journalists to try keeping us abreast of what’s really happening. And, it’s OUR jobs to listen and BELIEVE them. And ACT.
Geo Wilcox
I’ve been reading things that suggest people cannot access their social security accounts. I tried to open mine but it says I do not have an account. I got my husband to access his through his government Id from when he was a Marine but I cannot get into mine at all.
different-church-lady
@satby: They’re up Dumbfuck Hitler’s ass is where they are.
Spanky
@Betty Cracker: Groundhogs are the North American substitute for European badgers.
Starfish (she/her)
@Suzanne: You know, optional summer air travel is looking less interesting to me right now.
frosty
@Geo Wilcox: Ms F filled out her online passport renewal last night so State was still up. I’ll check SSA this morning.
Spanky
@Geo Wilcox: I just logged in to the SSA website without problem after reading your comment.
Starfish (she/her)
@Betty Cracker: Sometimes, but sometimes a lot of stock value is hype.
The entire tech sector is “potential to make money in the future if we promise you the most rosy growth prediction.”
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊
jonas
So last night we hear a critter in the wall between our garage and kitchen and figure “Uh oh, I think we have a little squirrel running around in here!” Our garage isn’t finished on the inside, so there are little holes and access points here and there where mice and chipmunks occasionally squeeze their way in and from there find a little pipe or conduit into the warm house, particularly in winter. Anyway, this thing didn’t sound like a little mouse, so we were a bit concerned, particularly since we have a couple of cats who were *intently* interested in its movements.
This morning we wake up to find it was…a weasel. White winter coat and little black tail tip and everything. It had spent the night scampering around the house, mostly in our daughter’s room, and miraculously hadn’t encountered the cats. It eventually made its way into the living room where we could enclose it and open the door to the outside and away it went. Beautiful little animal.
Now I just have to figure out where the opening was where it got in and it’s literally 0 degrees outside right now. Good times.
Nukular Biskits
@satby:
Indeed.
And what is really pissing me off is, at least in my case, NONE of corp-owned media outlets in MS are covering ANY of this. Based on the fluff they consider “news”, they’re not even bothering to contact any MS Republicans to ask if and why they support these anti-democratic actions on the part of Trump and his cronies.
Instead, we get pasty-faced asshole Gov. Tate Reeves smugly posting “Good/Job” to reports fed workers have been told to removed personal pronouns from their email signatures.
Not a single outlet (to my knowledge) is willing to ask Reeves how and why federal workers attaching their personal pronouns in their emails injures him (or anyone else) or impedes the ability of anyone to do their damned jobs.
WTF is wrong with the press in this country?
And, yes, I’m mad all over again.
rikyrah
Did that overgrown rat see his shadow today ?😒😒
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
PaulWartenberg
On a personal note, I attended the Sunshine State Book Festival in Gainesville this past Saturday and… sold no books. The guy to my right sold seven, the guy to my left sold four.
…
I gotta work on my marketing skills. /cries
Starfish (she/her)
@MomSense: Hopefully, Maine will remember this as they decide whether they want to re-elect the fake centrist Susan Collins in 2026.
Baud
@rikyrah:
I did not.
AM in NC
@Geo Wilcox: I just checked and I was able to get in, BUT I was made to log-in not through the normal/former Social Security log-in but through the new “Login.gov” log-in. This is a larger, overall government log-in (I had already signed up for one a few years ago when I was part of a USDA program) that now links to Social Security Database.
I was very nervous about signing the new terms and conditions to access my account. One of which was NOT holding Social Security Admin responsible for data breaches.
Spanky
@Baud: No no. The other one.
Betty Cracker
@Starfish (she/her): I understand that tech valuation is mostly bullshit. Just wondered why a Tesla boycott that would harm sales was seemingly being dismissed as ineffective.
Geminid
People in motion; from Istanbul-based Hürriyet News:
And:
This will be a homecoming of sorts for Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. He was born in Riyadh in 1982, to Syrian parents. Al-Sharaa grew up in Damascus.
Al-Sharaa will meet with another Riyadh native, Saudi Crown Prince (and Prime Minister) Mohammed bin Salman. Bin Salman is 39 years old, and Al-Sharaa is 43.
By contrast, the Israeli PM is 75 years old, while the Orange Churl is 78.
frosty
@AM in NC: We had to get a login.gov account for passports. This change predates Trump. I think.
I guess some mole wanted to make it easier for Musk to grab everything. /s/
Spanky
@rikyrah: He did.
Betty Cracker
@jonas: Wow, that’s so cool! I hope you got a pic!
BC in Illinois
Well, at least during this time of tension — the Trump Trade War — the people of Canada know that they have Lee Greenwood standing by their side:
Lee Greenwood, God Bless you Canada
jonas
@Suzanne: Yeah, he’s backpedaling right fast now, vowing to fight any tariffs tooth and nail, preserve Canadian sovereignty, etc. Might be too late, though.
Baud
@jonas:
Hopefully, Trump will save Germany too.
Gvg
@catclub: and he is leveraged, plus that stock is overpriced based on performance. He used it to buy twitter and Twitter is a mess that will never make a profit under him unless somehow subsidized by the government. I can’t see why the government would bother when he has been giving away support for free. They have so many other media outlets already. He also dragged a bunch of banks into leveraging the twitter purchase who should have known better and have been trying to get themselves out of it since. Not surprisingly, investors saw no profit in getting involved and declined to throw away their money.
So declining to give Musk companies money and damaging his reputation for business and everything else makes him vulnerable to losing everything if the market unravels. If the economy tanks, his stock is worth less. I think he could get margin calls and have to sell other stock? At a lower price because of a damaged economy and people having less money to spend etc.
The only solid thing he has is Space x and I wish we could get that away from him. It really is valuable to us and the world and a problem when a disloyal creep like him owns those capabilities.
TBone
What’s the frequency, Kenneth? A (sorely needed) Reason to Smile:
https://steady.substack.com/p/the-rolling-stones
Starfish (she/her)
@Betty Cracker: Was “hide Trump’s stash of Sharpies” on the list of things that they can do?
I am told that there are a bunch of young people in charge of stuff that they have no business running. Is “take them out, get them drunk, and ask them question about the secret plans” on the list?
Nukular Biskits
@frosty:
This.
And send a version of this to every damned newspaper and TV station in the state, demanding to know why they aren’t asking those elected official why they are complicit and not honoring their oaths.
TBone
@Jackie: here in small, rural town Pennsylvania, it’s a BFD and it feels like (*Janis Joplin voice:) it’s all the same fucking day, maaaan
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: Happy St. Brigids Day… Which I’d have never known if not for you!
RevRick
@Baud:
@TBone:
Maintaining healthy boundaries is essential to all functioning relationships, including that of orderly government.
For dogs, the boundaries to be kept are territory— hence barking at the mailman — and pack hierarchy— hence presenting the butt as a way of showing submission and trust.
Much of the social gains of our times is in recognition of healthy boundaries. And so, the matter of consent takes salience, and we need to teach children early on about respecting boundaries, including theirs, which means not forcing them to hug Aunt Sally.
In the Felon47 gang we have empowered the most dysfunctional group of men imaginable. They are smashing boundaries with no heed to the consequences. The damage will be immense. The cost in trust and the ability of ordinary people to flourish is incalculable.
I would make our present crisis akin to child sexual abuse writ large. Is it horrible? Yes. Is recovery impossible? No. Our job is to keep the door to healing open. It’s going to be a tough road, a long haul. We are living with the results of a great national white male temper tantrum. It will be a multigenerational repair project.
Starfish (she/her)
@Nukular Biskits: It might not even be unwillingness on the part of the media. It may be that the politicians are refusing to take their calls or answer their questions, and the journalists are not writing “We called Governor Reeves to request a comment, and he did not respond to our request.” Kristi Noem was captain of refusing to talk to the press and having no skills to do so.
Betty Cracker
@Gvg: If US democracy survives the Trump/Musk onslaught, nationalizing SpaceX and deporting Musk back to South Africa for lying about his immigration status would be a fitting consequence for that creep personally and perhaps a deterrent to other aspiring democracy destroyers.
Starfish (she/her)
@rikyrah:
Well, the weasel in jonas’s house could not see his shadow because he was inside. But I am pretty sure that the weasel inside jonas’s house acted more Presidentially than anyone in the current White House.
catclub
@Betty Cracker:
Of course, eventually. But Tesla stock has been wildly overpriced for years, unless you think Tesla is worth more than all the other car companies in the world.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
That’s fine. I was just getting the vibe that we shouldn’t be having that conversation here, that we should just be talking about the Republicans.
I don’t know anything about that. This is my social medium. I’m not on Assbook, Xitter, reddit, Instagram, TikTok, or even bluesky. I’m still somewhat on my old message board, but in largely nonpolitical threads (Wordle, Death Pool, etc.), and since it’s a well-moderated forum that values logic and evidence, not many Republicans hung in there all the way through Dubya, let alone Hair Furor’s first term.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@PaulWartenberg: Oh man, that’s painful. Been there.
lowtechcyclist
@Betty Cracker:
Yes, I am. I’ve been reading TPM since 2003 (and reading Josh way earlier than that, in the Washington Monthly and other places), and supporting it for most of that time. I think Josh is one of the clearer thinkers about all this right now.
Nelle
@MomSense: Agree.
evodevo
@jonas: It probably came in through the same entrance the rodents use, hunting for them. Weasels are great on rats and mice, squirrels and chipmunks..I imagine they would NOT get on with the cats, however. We have had the unfortunate circumstance of flying squirrels getting through a hole in the soffit and gnawing holes in our walls over the years. Very annoying and destructive to say the least.
TBone
@RevRick: I’m busy working on those repair projects on a much smaller scale at home right now, which is why I’m trying to stay a bit lighthearted here today. My tiny ember is still lit and, when I can make a return to more normalcy in my tiny family/home life, it will become a larger flame, blowing life into me so I can spread.
Doug R
BC premier David Eby has directed Crown corporations such as ICBC (auto insurance) and BC Hydro (electric power) to stop any American purchases AND for the BC Liquor Control Board to immediately stop buying American liquor and BCLC employees will immediately take popular American brands off the shelves.
Do you know how RARE it is for premier Eby to agree with Ontario premier Doug Ford?
Somehow Dipshit Donnie managed.
Starfish (she/her)
@Betty Cracker: There are A LOT of Teslas where I live, and I live adjacent to Musk fanboys or former Musk fanboys.
There were government electric vehicle subsidies, both federal and state, that I think may dry up under Trump. Some people are going to stop buying Tesla due to less free money from the government OR due to Trump’s politics.
There is a reddit community called /r/TeslaLounge
A friend, who owns a Tesla wrote that he is bearish on Tesla and was considering selling his stock, AND he got banned from their community.
I am hoping all these ugly CyberTrucks rust
And I am also seeing more Rivian trucks lately.
dww44
@satby: but then there’s Kathy Hochul on MSNBC just now talking about bipartisanship. Sheez. There’s still way too many elected Democrats who refuse to read the writing on the wall.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Doug R: I was pleased to see that Canada and Mexico both took retaliatory actions. What did Trump expect? That they’d say “Thank you, sir. May I have another”?
TBone
@rikyrah: hey, I resemble that remark hahaha!
It’s Pennsylvania Polka Day!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yeb08cbUswk
(Polka dancing is a BFD around these parts, we have a weekly public television show like the old Bandstand.)
TBone
@jonas: oh that beats MY morning surprises today by many miles!
lowtechcyclist
@jonas:
Tesla stock almost feels like a cryptocurrency at this point. Unlike with cryptocurrency, there is an actual business that it’s based on, but for so long now, the fortunes of Tesla the stock have been so completely untethered from the fortunes of Tesla the automobile manufacturing company that it might as well be a cryptocurrency.
I guess they may be betting on that now, but it’s been overvalued by orders of magnitude for years and years. As best as I can tell there’s just a metric ton of Elon fanbois out there who will buy his stock at whatever crazy value it’s trading at. I honestly have no idea what it will take to discourage them.
Nukular Biskits
@Starfish (she/her):
Forgive my posting style grammar and other errors I’m on treadmill Getting ready for work day.
I think it’s a combination of both The unwillingness of the corporate owned media To ask the The questions And or To accurately report The refusal to answer them.
Which makes them just as complicit In my humble opinion
Doug R
@Jackie: Appears to be the same story, no walls:
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/faa-notam-system-crashed-target-reforms-rcna65272
artem1s
got a link to a website for Dreamers from my local Democratic ward captain. For those of you who are concerned about your students, constituents, families, neighbors…
https://homeishere.us/daca-guidance/
Home is Here
We are a coalition fighting to protect DACA recipients, their families, and all immigrant communities against MAGA politicians. DACA recipients are undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. They are also our nurses, our teachers, our coworkers, our family members, and our friends. The overwhelming majority of Americans support DACA, and now is the time for our voices to be heard. And for DACA recipients, now is the time to renew your DACA. We can keep DACA recipients here, together with the people they love, because their home is here
Betty Cracker
@Starfish (she/her): I’ve seen a few Rivians — was once surprised to see one on the awful dirt road that leads to our house (driver must’ve been lost). Unlike Musk’s Wankpanzer/Swastikars, the Rivians are aesthetically pleasing, at least as far as pickups go.
I have no idea what the Rivian ownership group’s politics are, which is probably as it should be. Lots of businesses in my community advertise their affinity for Trump, which is pretty dumb, IMO. Only about 30% of the residents here are Dems, but why would a business want to alienate them?
Geminid
@Starfish (she/her): People will also buy fewer Teslas because other manufacturers are marketing EVs now that are as good or better than Teslas.
But I think you’re right that Musk’s reputation will likely be a drag on sales. It was the opposite not that long ago.
Doug R
@Betty Cracker:
They’re supposed to but Tesla market cap is WAY higher than the top ten auto manufacturers who all sell MORE vehicles than Tesla. I have a chart from 2021 but this blog doesn’t do common tater imbedding.
Another Scott
@PaulWartenberg: :-(
Hang in there.
I just took a look at your store on Amazon and grabbed a few more of your works. Can’t say when I’ll get to them, but I enjoy your writing!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Doug R
@satby: I have a feeling Tesla sales will plummet in Canada now.
zhena gogolia
So now there are two people whose deaths I have to pray for.
wolf parade
Spiritually I am Pete but it appears there are yet fresh horrors to clean up.
MomSense
@Starfish (she/her):
Don’t count on it. She gets a lot of support from Democrats. More worried about the gubernatorial election.
Doug R
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Note that part of that EO says if there’s retaliatory action, tariffs could go higher. Part of my brain was scared, but the other part is saying “fuck yea, go get’em Justin!!!”
And this is also why Dipshit Donnie is a terrible businessman, he comes on way too strong, no wiggle room.
Note with the Canadian duties, some come in Feb 4, the majority wait 21 days-to give some time for everybody to actually think and prepare.
Phylllis
@AM in NC: That was implemented several months ago, predates the FFOTUS. They sent emails about the change. I don’t like it, because I’m the authorized representative for the fire department I work with on FEMA grants & now it’s all connected. I don’t know why that makes me not like it, but it does.
Betty Cracker
@MomSense: Any chance she’ll retire? I think Collins is in her 70s now. Maybe she’s one of the many lawmakers who apparently aspire to be carried out feet first. I can’t relate to that mindset. The minute it’s economically feasible for me to retire, I will do it.
frosty
@Nukular Biskits: It’s worth sending to the Inky and maybe the local rag.
I looked up the comment I tweaked, mainly to change the focus from all Republicans to my Rs. It was from Valued Commenter Kay on yesterday’s post about Musk.
Thank you Kay!!
https://balloon-juice.com/2025/02/01/musks-junta-takes-over/#comment-9513115
Chris
@Suzanne:
Yep.
TurnItOffAndOnAgain
Sort of OT: what’s the story with special elections this year?
Phylllis
I’ve been thinking about how easy and quick it’s been for this to happen and how many people have so willingly stepped aside. Sort of like how there were so many resources moved into place in strategic places in the South by the federal government in the months prior to the Civil War being declared.
Another Scott
@lowtechcyclist: But, but, Fool.com says Tesla will be taking in trillions a year by 2029!!1 (from October 2024):
(Emphasis added.)
“ambitious”
The understatement can be heard past the asteroid belt.
Those numbers are delusional.
I’m reminded of Folding Ideas – Line Goes Up (2:18:22) about NFTs. There’s a lot of money to be made, if the line keeps going up…
Of course, it never does…
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Starfish (she/her)
Elon’s investment in the executive branch of government is paying off. How many times has he been investigated by the SEC in the past? Now the SEC can’t investigate anything unless the political leadership approves. There were NUMEROUS probes into Elon Musk’s companies.
Geminid
@Doug R: Recent reports show Tesla stock having a Price-to-Earnings Ratio of 198.50.
By contrast, auto sector rivals Ford and Toyota have P/E ratios of 11.50 and 9.21 respectively.
Tech sector titan NVIDIA’s P/E ratio is 47, while retail giant Amazon has a P/E ratio of 51.
Starfish (she/her)
@Geminid: Wow, that P/E ratio is crazier than that of Gamestop (134.50).
For those of you who don’t know, Gamestop is a meme stock completely untethered from reality. It goes up because cryptobros think it is funny to make it go up.
MomSense
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t know. Her uncle was a very close friend, lifelong friend of my dad’s, and he lived a long life and worked pretty close to the end. When she initially ran she said things about one term, not being a lifelong pol, etc. It was the usual BS.
We had our best shot at defeating her in 2008, and I had a big disagreement with her opponent’s (wonderful human) campaign manager because he announced at a meeting that they weren’t going to be on defense and that they were waiting until closer to the election to strike. I told him that was the dumbest fucking tactical decision I’d ever heard. I said hit her hard early – run attack ads showing her kissing W with her 96% record of voting with him on everything that was now wicked unpopular.
They waited and by then the airways were jammed with families thanking her for helping their diabetic kids get insulin.
It’s crazy how many democrats will say that she brings home the bacon. My argument that there would be better bacon and more of it without her is lost. Her famed constituent services aren’t even good anymore.
Governor is a must win for us. Golden wants it which puts us at a disadvantage in CD2 and the more liberal and populated CD1 can’t stand him. We are probably fucked.
BlueGuitarist
@PaulWartenberg:
James David Barber, that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time!
In Barber’s presidential character typology,
Trump has gotta be an “active negative”
artem1s
another helpful info website for Civil Servants. They are getting bombarded with email and orders from
Office of Personnel ManagementSoutpiel and DOGE’s ‘Fork in the road’ directives.https://www.civilservicestrong.org/
This is how they intend to stage the coup. By taking over from within. This time they will shut down the government and circumvent congress and the budgeting process. There are going to be GOP Senators and Governors who will not want to give up their power of their workforce and funding. The chaos is intentional but we can hope they are completely unprepared for the blowback. Maybe the only way to get those swing voters to wake up is for them, their families and their communities to feel the heat and pay the price. It’s happening whether we or they want it to. There is going to be a Fork in the Road. Let’s coop their branding the way we did “Brandon”.
Ohio Mom
@TBone: That is a very good snapshot of where we are now. I am going to print it out, not sure why but it feels important to keep track of what is going on, since so much is happening at once. Future historians will be quoting this substack.
On a related note, I read somewhere that Hitler dismantled the democratic German government in 53 days. I did a quick count and that would bring us to March 14 (If Steep was here, he’d tell you that’s the day after my birthday. Happy Birthday to me, insert appropriate emoji here’s).
Quinerly
@BlueGuitarist:
Commenter Marc linked to this piece.
Should be read and shared widely. IMO, front paged.
Geminid
@TurnItOffAndOnAgain: Tom Watson and others report that New York’s State Assembly is considering a law that would put off until August the special election to fill Ellise Stefanik’s Upstate Congressional seat. Democrats say this will reduce costs since there will be other elections held then. A laudible motive in my opinion.
New York Republicans are screaming, Foul!
I think Florida will hold special elections to replace their two Trump appointees later this month. All three seats are rated “Safe-R,” I believe.
Jackie
@rikyrah:
In our neck of the woods, Hanford Hank didn’t see his… so early Spring for us!😁
Chris
@lowtechcyclist:
In 2000, the consensus from all the respectable people and from the Democrats was that what we’d just seen was a weird little quirk of our constitutional system, nothing more significant than that, therefore nothing to worry about. Whereas what the Republicans learned was that they could steal elections.
One of the biggest problems of the 2000 elections is that the part everybody remembered was “oh, hey, the electoral vote can overrule the popular vote, and that’s what happened here. Isn’t that weird?”
And on the one hand, yes, it’s incredibly fucked up that a Rube Goldberg machine is allowed to overrule the will of the voters without rhyme or reason. But the electoral college was quite possibly the least of the problems of the 2000 election. That election involved a massive purge of black voters from the Florida voter rolls, without which the election would never have been close enough to steal. It involved Republican Party officials rioting and forcibly shutting down a recount operation. And it involved the Supreme Court issuing a decision so specious that they actually inserted a clause in it saying “this decision should never be cited as precedent” in total violation of the way the entire concept of civil law works.
The electoral college was the only injustice in that election that was never going to be reversed, it’s right there in the Constitution, but there are any number of other things in that election that should have been front-page news for the next four years. 2000 was a totally straightforward coup.
Bupalos
Twitter will likely never make a profit under him, no. But Elmo’s purchase of it also might be the single most profitable move a billionaire ever made. Mostly an accident, following his own depraved heart.
Geminid
@Ohio Mom: I recall reading that one of Hitler’s key moves was putting Herman Goering in charge of Brandenburg State’s police forces.
frosty
@Suzanne: Sounds like it’s National Brotherhood Week!
Chris
@Nukular Biskits:
It’s a right-wing dumpster fire doing what it’s always done, no matter how much worse the situation gets?
tobie
@Nukular Biskits: @frosty: You inspired me. My Rep is Andy Harris, head of the Freedom Caucus. It’s difficult to fill out the message form on his site because you have to provide both your zip code and the four-digit extension. (Who knows the latter by heart?) But I did send him this message and will urge members of the local Democratic Club to call or write a message as well.
Quinerly
@Betty Cracker:
Modelo is my choice if I have a beer at lunch out…..mostly with Northern New Mexican or Mexican food. And I always keep some Negra Modelo in the house in the Winter even though I mostly drink my “yard beer” (PBR) at home.
Going to hit Walmart and pick up a couple of cases of Modelo to have on hand. Might splurged and hit the “and More” part of “Total Wines” for some higher end tequila to also have on hand. Not really a tequila drinker but I could become one.
Another Scott
@Gvg: Made me look some more…
WolfStreet.com (from August 2024):
(Emphasis added.)
Melon should have just used his Unobtainium Visa Card.
The banksters knew this transaction made no sense and demanded high interest rates and fees to participate. I’m sure they realized the underlying business and stock was worthless, but they figured they’d make it up in other ways (fees, bigger fool, tax writeoffs, etc.). So, yeah, I’m not crying over the banksters’ “losses”.
Best wishes,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
Oh man. Showing the big man who’s boss. Or Badger has an irresistibly cushiony body.
Jeffro
“We call upon every Rep and Senator in the US Congress, R and D and I alike, to come together and demand that this activity stop immediately, and that Musk appear before a joint session of Congress to explain himself.” – Obama, W, Thune, Kaine, Murkowski, McConnell, Alsobrooks, Raskin, Roy, etc
Chris
@MomSense:
This is pretty much the problem with all arguments in favor of “moderate Republicans,” and has been since forever. Even with the very best of them you’re talking about people who, at most, will simply do a less good job than pretty much any Democrat we could’ve had instead. Being a mediocrity instead of a proactive arsonist is still better than you can expect from most Republicans, but my God am I tired of people gushing over C- students simply because they’re not F students, while pretending that the entire classroom of A and B students in the next room over doesn’t even exist.
Ohio Mom
@Geminid: I have to say that until very recently, the broadest outline of Hitler’s rise sufficed for me, to wit, he took over legally. That’s all I knew.
Now of course the details are more interesting to me. That it only took him 53 days is astounding to me but then again, I don’t know how long the average coup takes. Maybe 53 days is long.
Ohio Mom
@Jeffro: Wake up, you’re talking in your sleep.
The tip off is having W participate.
Betty Cracker
@tobie: Excellent! Gonna send a similar screed to my useless GOP senators and rep.
TBone
@Ohio Mom: keeping the books intact (printing out HCR on paper so her words are never changed) is a damn GOOD IDEA I Love you, Madame Librarian (Vonnegut reference).
Kay
@MomSense:
The whole Great Lakes region does tons in trade with Canada. Automakers are scrambling to find alternative parts suppliers.
tobie
@Betty Cracker: Yes!!! Go for it. And please post your letter.
I’m going to try to compile a list of Republican-aligned, faith-based orgs that receive federal funding so my friends can ask our Republican Rep how he would react if these orgs lost their grants overnight. I don’t know how else to make this issue matter to Republicans.
Nukular Biskits
@tobie:
Good for you! Keep it up, too. They’re not expecting sustained criticism and demands for accountability.
EVERYONE ELSE: Do what Tobie did!!!!!!!!!!!!
YY_Sima Qian
I am rather flabbergasted by the immediate pivot in executive branch action after 1/20, w/ the rampant ICE raids, the rapid dismantling of DEI, & the DOGE led spending freezes. While I do believe the DHS (especially ICE & CBP) has been the den for proto-Fascists even during the Biden Administration, a lot of bureaucratic preparations must have been done to execute the raiding campaign during the waning days of Biden’s term. EO issued banning DEI & all of federal government just turn on a time to implement the new changes? How is a Techbro w/ zero experience operating in a huge bureaucracy just run roughshod over everything?!
Where is the resistance from the civil service to bog things down? Most of the departments’ politically appointed positions are still being held by acting/interim figures (typically career bureaucrats), waiting the new nominees to be confirmed.
Correct me if I am wrong, but this feels like a reactionary counterrevolutionary Blitzkrieg, quite different from the start of Trump’s 1st term, & the opposition right now is just as discombobulated as the Poles, Nordics, Low Countries & France were in ’39 – ’40.
Nukular Biskits
And off to work I go.
Y’all play sweet today.
frosty
@Kay: Plz see my thanks to you at #118.
Betty Cracker
@tobie: May I quote your letter in a post? It’s really well done. Thanks!
TBone
Reposting this rather important Dolchstoßlegende history lesson:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stab-in-the-back_myth
(A quick skim does not impart the lesson.)
So much for my good intentions of keeping it lighthearted today. But, now back to regular programming!
frosty
@Betty Cracker: Please quote Kay too. Just change them to you and it’s pretty much good to go.
https://balloon-juice.com/2025/02/01/musks-junta-takes-over/#comment-9513115
tobie
@Betty Cracker: By all means! Happy to share, though I don’t have your florid prose.
Should the country survive this dreadful period, I’d love to see a post on the art of invective. It won’t be enough for me to give Republicans the boot at the ballot box. I will want to cuss them out the door.
cope
@Betty Cracker: When we were living in Florida, I often saw pickup and panel trucks used by small businesses that had pro-Trump stickers and such. My first thought was to try remembering the name of the business so that I would never use them. My second thought was “Why doesn’t that place want my business?”
P.S. Do I see high-water marks from your flood on the cypress trees?
Quinerly
Leaving this here. I have to get moving this AM. Must read, imo.
Timothy Snyder
https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-of-destruction?utm_source=post-banner&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=posts-open-in-app&triedRedirect=true
Betty Cracker
@cope: Yep, those are high water marks! It’s visible in the trees across the river too, but not in the photo. We had about two feet of water downstairs. Our neighbor down the road had a small gator in his game room!
@tobie: & @frosty: Thanks!
dww44
@Nukular Biskits: and you are right to be mad. We who care have to reach out to those we regularly interact with and challenge them to pay attention for the sake of our democracy. At the very least we publicly bear witness to the dismantling of our democracy.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@satby:
https://www.coxautoinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Q4-2024-Kelley-Blue-Book-EV-Sales-Report.pdf
Cox Auto is *the* authoritative source on auto sales.
Tesla sales dropped 1.1% world wide last year, that made some mainstream news reports. From the Cox numbers, Tesla sales were down in ‘Murka 5.6% from 2023.
Overall US EV sales jumped in the 4th quarter and that included Tesla.
We’ll have a much better feel for just how Musk affects Tesla’s sales during the 1st quarter. Tesla itself is feeling the heat as other automakers, particularly GM, Kia and Hyundai, are going full bore on EV products that are aimed at people now looking to unload their 5+ year old Teslas.
dww44
@Betty Cracker: The 2008 election broke a lot of white men and women’s brains and those brains have not recovered. It was only after that election that I personally started seeing businesses display their political allegiances. Just Republican of course.
Mai Naem mobil
@Betty Cracker: I know Tesla has a huge lead in being the first popular electric vehicle but there are a lot of nicer looking electric cars made by well known brands. And then there are the much cheaper Chinese ones. I’m not sure Edolph is doing his car brand any good being a d-bag hooligans. Ofcourse Edolph also has his money coming from Starlink as well and i wonder if he still owns stock in PayPal. I am glad I only used PayPal a couple of times before there were complaints of identity theft etc.
CaseyL
@Geo Wilcox:
There are a couple of ways to get into SocSec website. The general login, which apparently only works during office hours, and the MySocialSecurity, which is your own account and which can be accessed any time. I just went to the latter and printed off a copy of my benefit confirmation, so I have it just-in-case.
Whether the GOP will respond to frantic residents of their district or state who are worried about their SSA/VA/Etc. benefits depends on whether there will be real elections ever again, and whether opposition to the GOP will be permitted.
If not, then the GOP doesn’t need to care about any of it.
And the people who have been elected on the GOP ticket over the last few cycles are already indifferent to what the residents of their district/state want, already pay no attention to them, and already are assured re-election purely on the basis of having an R next to their name.
The only threat to them is Musk bankrolling a primary challenger so, no, I do not expect to see any kind of groundswell of opposition from within the GOP.
Shalimar
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/elon-musk-touts-doge-s-120-hour-workweek-vs-us-bureaucracy-losing-so-fast/ar-AA1yguDO?ocid=socialshare&pc=U531&cvid=4944e5066855478e9bb27a5bcd99e48b&ei=15
I have worked 70 hour work weeks before. I didn’t have time for anything else except sleep and an hour or two a night to wind down before sleep. I have read stories of this or that great robber baron who was supposedly successful because he worked 17 hour days, and those people don’t sound like they were ever happy. If Musk is doing this, it is because he is taking drugs so he doesn’t have to sleep (which is incredibly unhealthy psychologically; sleep is awesome) and counts all the time insulting people on X-Twitter as work.
Also, too, he has something like 12 kids. What is the point of populating the earth with your genes if you never see the kids and have other people raise them?
TBone
@Mai Naem mobil: thanks for this new-to-me descriptive nickname!
TBone
@Shalimar: they moved sofa beds into the Director’s Office at the Federal Office of Personnel Mgmt. according to Reuters, back on January 20! and locked out everyone else.
Miss Bianca
@Nukular Biskits: Here’s what I’m sending to Hickenlooper and Bennet, with some revisions to come for my House rep (stealing some of the fine, fine rhetoric from commenter Allan Henderson from another night’s thread):
Hello,
I’m writing to ask you, in the strongest and most existential terms, to oppose the Trump administration on every front and using every means at your disposal. Right now, that means slowing down his ability to confirm a whole slate of atrocious picks for his cabinet. In other words, it means stop giving “Aye” votes, in the name of “comity”, “bi-partisanship”, “norms”, or whatever, to Trump’s Cabinet picks. Stop everything and demand accountability from the Republicans and Trump, because right now Co-President Musk – an unelected, unaccountable, foreign national – has apparently taken over the Government. Why is that? How is this even happening? What are you doing to hold Republicans accountable for the “rapid unscheduled disassembly” of our democracy?
More generally, the era in which traditional formalities matter has passed, because Republicans rendered them meaningless. In politics, anyway, my view is that traditions only matter if both sides respect them and/or they win you votes. Neither condition is operative in this moment. Collegiality only matters if it will help you sway the most approachable Republicans to do less harm. And right now, “approachable Republicans” appear to be thin on the ground and fickle allies at the best.
So I write asking you to dispose of collegiality. Democrats are the only opposition party we have that stands between the democracy we must preserve and the rising authoritarian fascism that Trump represents. We cannot count on Republicans to stop them, not only because so many of them apparently approve of and embrace authoritarianism themselves, but because we cannot count on Republicans to do the right thing for democracy ever, apparently, unless the sword is at their own throats. And it’s a sucker’s game to bet on them doing the right thing even then.
But the attempt must be made. It’s up to you all to hold the sword to their throats in Congress. Make them own this sorry state of affairs. Grind the business of Congress to a halt and demand explanations and a removal of Musk from the engine rooms of government. Right now, Trump and Co. have just decided that Congress doesn’t matter, that it’s powerless to stop them. If you don’t act on this, you will prove them right.
Do not keep your powder dry. Fight everywhere, at every opportunity.
Yours in solidarity,
Shalimar
@TBone: So he “hired” a bunch of incels who don’t need time for personal lives because they’re repugnant to other humans.
TBone
@Shalimar: 🎯
They’re all couch fuckers.
BlueGuitarist
@Quinerly:
Thanks!
sorry Marc for not properly attributing!
BlueGuitarist
@Miss Bianca:
good for you!
Wanted to see this again
“What are you doing to hold Republicans accountable for the “rapid unscheduled disassembly” of our democracy?”
2 minor thoughts as I get ready to
plagiarize“research” your exampleMaybe “asking you to dispose of fake collegiality”
Wondering about closing
“yours in patriotism” or “patriotically yours”
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Miss Bianca:
Thanks for sharing. I’ll be contacting those two tomorrow. Good on you for contacting your squishy, pale blue House Dem, she’s a classic Yglesias “Liberal” and I’m soooo glad I’m not in her district cuz I’d crush/break my nose when squeezing it while voting.
Mai Naem mobil
@TBone: i can’t take credit for it. I’m pretty sure I saw somebody use it here and bluesky.
Aziz, light!
Tesla makes a lot of money from its widespread charging network. The availability of charging away from home is a key limiting factor in the purchase of EVs, and a number of non-Tesla EV makers have thrown in the towel by making their cars compatible with the Tesla chargers and paying Tesla for the privilege of using them. So the sales figures for Tesla cars are not the only measure of the company’s success.
Other commenters will know a lot more about this than I do.
Mai Naem mobil
@Miss Bianca: this is so well written. I want to steal it but then it will turn into some form letter that the senators and their staff will just trash. Kelly and Gallego’s offices aren’t answering the phones. They just have voice mails. I’ve had luck in the past taking one of the phone numbers of the senators office and changing the last number(so if its 867-5309 – change it to 867-5304 or 5305 etc) and gotten a staff member. I think telecom tech has changed that somewhat. I can’t remember which senator it was but I did that during the passage of the ACA and ended up getting the health care policy person who was probably as surprised as I was at getting to talk to them.
Miss Bianca
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Eh, I actually like Brittany Pettersen ok, she’s done a lot for my community. Altho’ I remain pretty PO’d at her for hopping, “in more sorrow than anger”, onto the “Joe’s Gotta Go” bandwagon. That’s when I stopped contributing to her campaign.
Could be worse, far worse, when you reflect on the fact that I used to be represented by…Lauren Boebert. And before that, Scott Tipton.
I’ll take BP any day of the week over those two, and twice on Sunday.
Miss Bianca
@Mai Naem mobil: I can’t take credit for the whole thing, as I said, a commenter named Allan (hope I spelled that right!) Henderson came up with most of the good parts. The saltiest bits did come from yours truly, I confess.
I may, however, burnish this and ask one of my publishers to let me print it as an op-ed or LTE. That gives it a little more scope than the e-wastebasket it will likely end up in otherwise. ; )
JaySinWA
@Betty Cracker: I’m all for nationalizing SpaceX, but deporting Musk is too good for him, he needs to be locked up for his criminal assault on our data.
2liberal
I’m able to login to my account. They generally shut down access during off hours so it might not have been fElon’s actions
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Suzanne:
Take heart! I know much of our press makes it seem that way; nonetheless, it is not true. Our current cosplaying president did not earn 50% of the vote. He got 49%. The university of Florida election lab says 63.9% of us voted.
So even if we assume all of those who voted hard R hate the rest of us (a big assumption since polls show hard R support hovers nearer 18%), the number of haters is nowhere near half of us.
Kayla Rudbek
@Betty Cracker: yeah, I have no idea what Rivian’s politics are either, although they have a store at the fancy mall (Tyson Corner) here in the DC suburbs.
Kayla Rudbek
@tobie: thank you for this, I sent it to Warner, Kaine, and Beyer.
Kayla Rudbek
@Miss Bianca: trying to decide whether to send this today or tomorrow, I already used tobies’ comment above today.
Kayla Rudbek
@JaySinWA: I think that some of the espionage crimes still have the federal death penalty, see https://www.intelligence.gov/evolution-of-espionage/world-war-1/america-declares-war/espionage-act
dearmaizie
Thank you for sharing Pete’s butt. I’m sitting here wondering if Musk will stop SS checks from going out and the dogs were just what I needed. : )
The Lodger
@Betty Cracker: I haven’t seen any stickers on the many many Rivians I’ve seen here in the PNW.